The Dementia Elevator team are very pleased to let you know that their free, online Dementia CopingSkills for Families and Carers programme is now available on the Dementia Elevator website.

The Dementia Elevator Coping Skills for Families and Carers was developed to support and educate families and carers, while caring for a person with dementia. The programme aims to enable families and carers to recognise the emotions, goals and copingstrategies of the person with dementia. It will enable participants to develop a suite of psychosocial skills in emotional and cognitive approaches to support these, while practicing self-care.

What are psychosocial skills?Psychosocial skills involve ‘interactions between people, to support cognition (eg, thought, reason, memory), emotion, interpersonal relationships and a sense of control”Moniz Cooke, 2009

The programme was developed in close collaboration with a group of family carers who shared their experiences in a number of filmed interviews.

This comprehensive programme will require a total duration of approximately 4 hours to complete. However, the actual time to complete the programme can vary across users, as the content within each chapter is flexible and can be used as a stand-alone education.

The programme consists of an introduction and five chapters. Each chapter is further subdivided into at least three sections.

This resource is accompanied by a reflection journal guiding users to apply and reflect upon the aspects of the education relevant to their specific situation. Furthermore it aims to demonstrate practical and applicable skills through:· Interviews with family carers, people with dementia and professionals,

· Video examples of using the skills in everyday situations

· Exploration of theory of psychosocial approaches to support a person with dementia.